


Happy Ending

by Mamogirl



Category: Backstreet Boys
Genre: A little bit of angst, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-15 02:08:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9214301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mamogirl/pseuds/Mamogirl
Summary: In the end we all just want someone that chooses us over everyone else, under any circumstances.





	

Happy Ending

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_In the end_  
  _we all just want someone that chooses us_  
 _Over everyone else, under any circumstances._

 

“Why are you here?” Nick asked as he came closer to the lonely figure that was standing in front of the ocean, his bare feet caressed by the waves that rushed on the shore and retreated as if they wanted to steal something precious and rare. Golden sunrays landed upon the skin, brushed those hair that have always resembled, to Nick, those particular shades of yellow and gold during a summer’s dawn. Even in the midst of that situation, worry and concern tripping as if his soul was a vase full to the brim, Nick couldn’t help that flutter of his heart: to him Brian was always going to be a beautiful painting, a rarity that could only be observed and admired, ignoring that taunting and pounding desire to touch and crave it as his.

Everyone was freaking out, only a couple of hours left to a wedding that Nick had feared and hated from the bottom of his heart. When Kevin had called him and asked him if he knew where Brian could be, because no one could find him, Nick had literally raised his eyes to the sky and mouthed a silent thank you. It wasn’t fair, he knew. If that, if marrying someone else, was what Brian wanted to do, he should be able to stand by his decision and just be happy for him.

But Nick couldn’t. How could he be happy when that same decision was going to ruin every dream he had to be with him? To be the one loved and who loved Brian in return? But now, suddenly, things were turned around because why did Brian feel the need to run away if he knew that marrying Leighanne was the right thing to do?

Of course he hadn’t known where the man was or could be. It wasn’t like as if he had an inner radar or if he could sense if the other man was near him. Though he kinda wished that Brian had come there, to that place that had been so important for both of them since... well, since that only night when none of them had thought or given importance to the world; that only night when feelings had been shared, a connection that Nick had and would never be able to find within someone else because it had seemed like that Brian was part of his entire body and soul, a part that he had never knew it existed until Brian had touched him and made him feel new.

Nick hadn’t known where Brian was but he had tried anyway. He held to that wishful hope and started looking outside the window, his eyes set on that golden sand and that sky that was turning into a million of shades that were hard and almost impossible to define and describe. And there, as if it was just another echo of a recurring dream, stood a figure that he would be able to recognize everywhere, even in the midst of a storm or between shades and shades of the most impenetrable mist.

There stood Brian, his expression totally unreadable and yet, somehow, Nick knew that a change was going to happen. His heart had started to beat furiously as he took step after step, out of the house and down the beach; thoughts had started to ring around his mind, conflicted voices that wanted to warn him but, as the same time, pushed him to go faster and faster before that vision, Brian, would blur and disappear into thin air.

“Brian? Why... what are you doing here?” Nick repeated, as though Brian hadn’t been able to hear him the first time.  

Brian didn’t reply immediately. He didn’t even turn around, he didn’t even make a sound to acknowledge Nick’s presence there with him. Though he had felt him. He had never been able to understand or define what was the reason why he had always been able to feel Nick’s presence, even when the other man was just sitting there silently: the air would feel lighter, the world around him would brighten up with colors and lights as though he had been drowning in darkness until that moment.

Why did it take him so much damn time to realize it? So much had passed between them; so many hours, days, months and years had been wasted while they tried to fight what had always been in front of them, waiting patiently. Realization had hit him that morning, as though a train had appeared out of nothing and hit him with full force: he was making a mistake, probably the biggest of his life because... well, the only reason he had agreed to that fake life had been because he had been so afraid of what his heart really wanted. Who his heart, mind and soul, had desired since the first time their eyes had met, when the world had stopped being something only colored in black and white. All of his life his mother had told and taught him that love wasn’t something that came around easily: real love was a gift, the most precious of all, and it took courage to hold it and fight for it. And that was what he was doing: fighting for it, holding it dear and close to his heart because nothing could matter more than finally be connected to his other half. Should it really matter if that love had the form of a blond guy, that same kid Brian had taken under his wings and had tried so hard to protect, teach and heal all those scars that life had already signed and carved his heart?

Finally, Brian had the answer to that rhetorical question that had plagued his thoughts for so many years: no, it shouldn’t and it didn’t matter. He had made a choice or, actually, that choice had been made a long time before when he was supposed to be dead and, instead, angels and fate had decided that he was more needed somewhere else. He was needed and supposed to be by Nick’s side, guiding him and loving him, letting him loving him and be that only one who would be able to see him through.

How could he fight fate? Fate had brought him there and there was no reason for keep trying to refuse to see the truth. It would take him a longer time to make peace with that part of him that had been taught about immorality and perversion, about being pure or impure, but Brian knew that loving Nick could and would never be something that he would be ashamed of.

“Brian? – Nick called him again, this time much closer for a hand touched Brian’s shoulder and warmth spread immediately from that small touch. Both of them felt it, either of them couldn’t resist or put up a defense against that spark of electricity that had always been there and that it was getting harder and harder to fight. – Everyone is looking for you. Did something happen?”

“You.” Brian breathed out, his voice quickly stolen by the wind as if that small, tiny word was something so precious to just let it hang in the air.

“What... me?” Nick was baffled. Perplexed. Confused. And deep down inside, in a corner of his heart and soul that had to be protected and defended, a flickering flame of hope had started to burn. Timid. Shy. But it was there because Brian was supposed to get married that day and, yet, he was there. No, he wasn’t just there with him: he ran away, he vanished and disappeared from a place full of people and expectations and he came there, he came back to the place where they had first tasted something that no one had ever told them it could exist.

“Yes. You. You weren’t supposed to happen. Not like that anyway. You were supposed to be my best friend. You were supposed to be my best man, standing there next to me while I took that exciting and terrifying step. But that was what was supposed to happen. Marriage. I’ve planned it for all my life, since the day my parents told me what had happened and that miracle that had saved him. Since I’ve learned that, somehow, I was living on borrowed time and I had to make the best of it, otherwise it would just turn to be a wasted chance. That was what was supposed to happen. I was supposed to be a husband. Then a father. Everything was planned, everyone expected that. – Brian turned around, coming to face Nick though he had to raise his face a little. The sun was just a caress on that skin already been kissed by days, months, of being between the waves and dreaming about running away, going somewhere hope and dreams could be turned into reality. Maybe he didn’t need to look that far... – And then you came. And everything changed. Everything shifted. You turned my world upside down until I didn’t know anymore what was right and what was wrong. Until I didn’t know anymore who I was and what I was supposed to do. You needed me like no one has ever needed before. You looked up at me and I knew, I knew, that my duty was to protect you and love you.”

“As a friend...” Nick’s voice didn’t held any strength, captured and made slave by that part of his soul that was getting bigger and bigger because Brian’s words kept his hope alive. Actually, those words feed that bird, his wings stronger and stronger and so ready to fly and soar up in the sun.

“After all this time, after everything we’ve been through, you still think that I can love you only as a friend? - Brian fired back, the honesty within his tone was like honey balm on those scars and those wounds that Nick had thought and truly believed that would never heal. – It took me a lot to accept this. It took me a lot to realize that I can’t just be your friend, your hero and your mentor. It’s not enough, it can’t be enough when your name has been written and carved upon my heart since the first moment it started beating. And I don’t care what people are going to say, how many of them will be disappointed and will end up hating me. It can’t matter when what would kill me is for you to hate me. That’s why I’m here. For you. I’m here to tell you that it’s time we take our chance and let this love soar and fly higher than ever, higher than possible. I’m here to tell you that I can’t marry her because she isn’t you. And I can’t love anyone else who isn’t you. I can only love you and that’s the only thing that matters. The only thing important. The only thing I’m gonna fight for, protect from everyone and whoever will try to ruin or turn into something ugly. You’re the only one I’ll keep try to be better and perfect for because loving you is the only thing I can do. Because loving is the most right thing I will ever do in my life...”

Nick didn’t even let Brian finish that speech. Was there something else to add? Oh, those words were just poetic, dripping with romance as if they have just been taken out from a movie. Yet they were real because only that voice, only Brian’s voice, could make them sound so real. So honest. So true. And Nick believed them. Nick believed in Brian because that was what his soul, his heart and even his brain was telling him to do:

_“Trust Brian. Have faith in him for he would never broke another heart, he would never let his parents down if he didn’t believe in you.”_

So Nick believed them. Nick trusted those voices and trusted Brian. He wanted to trust him, he wanted so badly to believe that a happy ending wasn’t just possible but real for them and their love. Love. Yes, that was exactly what was that strange, strong and deep emotion that had been always lived within him and that had walked with him through every single moment and instant. Nick loved Brian, had always loved that angel that had been sent down so he could have someone to look to up and learn from. Nick loved Brian, though most of the times had felt scared and afraid to take a step closer, to step up and make him seen that he could hold on to him too. Wasn’t that love, though? Wasn’t love something that needed to be equal, a balance where both ends learned and taught, comforted and took comfort? Nick had never be sure about that, had never have someone who taught him about it but... that, that relationship and that man that was looking at him so puzzled and yet so hopeful and so beautiful, those were the biggest and strongest proof he would ever need.

And that was the reason why Nick didn’t let Brian finish. He didn’t need those words anymore, he hadn’t needed them since the moment he had found the older man outside his house when he should have been somewhere far away, getting ready to marry the woman that had stolen him from Nick. He didn’t need to hear how happy, how complete loving him made Brian feel because those feelings were reciprocated, because Nick was feeling them as much as Brian. Or maybe even more, for that love was something that he had never felt before, he had never held or touched. And he wanted it. He fucking wanted it: he wanted to taste it, he wanted to burn his mark upon that soul that, from now on, would always and only belong to him. He wanted to be surrounded by that love, he wanted to wrap himself inside that bubble and never come out, never let someone even close because he couldn’t let, he couldn’t allow for it to be broken.

He deserved it, didn’t he?

And so Nick took example from Brian and took that chance, without any other thought, doubt or regret. His hands grabbed Brian’s face, their bodies finally got that sensation of being so close that no one else would ever be able to notice where one started and the other ended. And Nick kissed Brian as if his life depended on it, as if he was drowning and Brian’s lips were the only thing that could save him.

And, in so many ways, that was the truth. In so many ways that kiss was saving him because that wedding, that real possibility to lose his best friend and the best part of himself forever, had already proved to be something able to destroy him. In so many ways Brian had came back as the hero of the story, his invisible cape shutting away all the clouds and brought back the sun so that it could shine once again. That man, that small yet so strong man, had always been his fixed point, a compass that had guided Nick through every storm and rain, through every crisis and self doubts because how could he be that bad if someone that special had decided to be his friend? How could he be so unlovable if someone so full of love like Brian had decided to throw everything away just so that they could be together?

The kiss deepened, urgency and anxiety made them wanting and needing more and more, as if time wasn’t on their side and that moment was about to slip away as if it had never existed. Hands travelled everywhere they could go, every little part of skin that they could explore and study, making it a memory that time couldn’t and wouldn’t be able to erase from their mind. That kiss was everything that they always thought it could be and nothing like they had ever tried to dream or imagine: it was passion and it was novelty, it was love and it was as physical as it could be, a chain reaction that set everything on fire and a balsam that soothe an absence that was finally put on sleep.

They couldn’t stand to stay apart, not even when that first kiss stopped and air became breathable again. They didn’t step away, they kept holding on to each other as if some kind of glue had decided to unite their hands and their bodies, taking mercy and pity of two souls that had already been doomed to be distant and apart for too long time. They kept looking at each other as if they couldn’t believe that it really had happened: was it a dream? Could it be really reality?

Could that happy ending finally come true?

Bright eyes couldn’t hold back their happiness. Indeed it was true. It was really happening and nothing was going to ruin that perfect moment, so agonized and dreamed and, for so many ways and reasons, hated because it looked like it could never happen.

“By the way, you don’t need to be perfect. - Nick murmured a soft breath that landed upon Brian’s lips and that he tasted as if it was the sweetest honey. – You already are.” Another kiss. Another caress and another part of Brian’s soul that melted as if it was sand under the most powerful wave. He had never felt like that before; no one’s kiss had never been able to reduce him like that, weak and strong at the same time.

“Pretty sure that a lot of people would argue with that.”

“Don’t care. You’re my perfect imperfection. And... and I want to thank you.” Nick whispered, his voice so soft as it caressed Brian’s ear.

“For what?” Brian replied, brushing the tip of his nose against Nick’s.

Nick smiled. The most natural and sweetest smile he could ever wear. A sun that shone on Brian’s face with a warmth that he had never felt before, a star that would brighten up only for his eyes because no one else was going to understand those different shades of blue and love, no one was going to look at him as if he was really one of the most beautiful creatures of the world.

“Thank you for giving me the happy ending I’ve never thought I’d have. Thank you for giving me what I had always dreamed. I’ve never thought that this could happen to me.”

Love. That had always been Nick’s happy ending. How much he had longed for it, how much jealousy he had always had to swallow because everyone was getting what he had always wanted. He had truly believed that he had been cursed, no getting love had seemed to be some sort of payback for all the attention and appreciation he got from thousands of strangers all around the world: but he would gave them back in a blink, he would trade them if it meant to be finally granted with love. And he was going to cherish that love. He was going to prove that he deserved it, that it would never be something that he would take for granted.  

Brian’s hand slid down on Nick’s arm, leaving a trail of shivers and trembles, and reached for his hand; fingers interlaced together, one around the other as they had always belonged, as if their place and position had always meant to be together.

“I haven’t done nothing. We did it. We gave ourselves this happy ending. And we’re gonna make it through, no matter what the world is going to throw us against.”

“Because we love each other?” Nick’s lips brushed Brian’s as the first hints of blue started to paint the sky behind their shoulders.

Brian didn’t reply because words weren’t needed anymore. Nothing else mattered anymore but that feeling, that intricate and complex relationship that now was finally take the last step. That blurring line between fantasy, dream and reality had been crossed and they couldn’t go back, dismiss what they had said to each other only because they were afraid. No, that wasn’t part of the plan and neither Brian nor Nick wanted to go back to be just a peripheral point of each other’s life. That was why Brian didn’t feel the need to say something because that reply, that answer to Nick’s question, could be pronounced in another way. A different way, one that Brian had always dreamed and wished he could do but, instead, had to suppress and let it die because it would have been too much.

Not anymore.

And so he did. So he retrieved and dusted that old wish off and turned into a magical reality and truth: Brian stood on his tip toes, wiping away that height difference that it was somehow perfect, as if it was just another reminder of how they have always meant to be together, meant to be complete each other in ways that were somehow impossible yet true.

So imperfectly perfect together.

Lips brushed gently against lips, a spark of electricity seemed to take control over their bodies as they melted even more into each others, finally living those precious moment where they could finally taste and touch how it felt to be so close, to hear their own heartbeats beating as if there was just one melody and they were the only ones who knew the notes; fingers kept caressing each other while the other arms reached around and travelled upon the back, trying to get to know another part that had always been the only road open when they couldn’t let their secret out, when they had to mask those touches as a comforting gesture coming from a friend.

Not anymore.

Now they could touch. Now they could caress, brush, hug and kiss without feeling like they needed an alibi or a justification. Now they could be together, for as long as they wanted and for as long as fate and destiny would let them be. And the future was definitely looking like that horizon: bright and infinite.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year!  
> May you all find your happy ending this year!
> 
> Cinzia


End file.
